THE TWO APRIL MORNINGS. WE walked along, while bright and red And Matthew stopped, he looked, and said, A village schoolmaster was he, As blithe a man as you could see On a Spring holiday. And on that morning, through the grass, And by the streaming rills, We travelled merrily, to pass A day among the hills. "Our work," said I, "was well begun; So sad a sigh has brought?" A second time did Matthew stop; "Yon cloud with that long purple cleft A day like this, which I have left "And just above yon slope of corn THE TWO APRIL MORNINGS. "With rod and line I sued the sport Which that sweet season gave, And, coming to the church, stopped short Beside my daughter's grave. "Nine summers had she scarcely seen, The pride of all the vale; And then she sang;-she would have been A very nightingale ! "Six feet in earth my Emma lay; And yet I loved her more, For so it seemed, than till that day I e'er had loved before. "And, turning from her grave, I met, A blooming Girl, whose hair was wet “A basket on her head she bare; "No fountain from its rocky cave E'er tripped with foot so free; She seemed as happy as a wave That dances on the sea. "There came from me a sigh of pain I looked at her, and looked again: |